Some can’t wait to go out again, others don’t really want to, happy to stay home connected to the outside world only through their computer. Some are worried about the virus and others, instead, are more concerned about the climate crisis.
To give an answer to this important question, we adopted the same means teenagers use to study and communicate within their community. Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp … these video chats were our eyes to take the pictures, remotely.
Teens (and their parents) allowed us to take snapshots using the camera of their computers, tablets or mobile phones, at home, in their bedroom or where they are spending the quarantine, while they study, read, chat, play music, watch TV or exercise.
This gives a unique portrait of generation Z.
Rami
Rami attends secondary school in Rome. He’s passionate about computers, gaming and app developing. Rami is 16 and was born in Jordan.
I consider myself a very sedentary person. Usually during the school holidays I tend to stay at home most of the time. Quarantine is not affecting what I would normally do with all this extra free time.
One of the things that changed is the shifting of my schedule. Since I don’t have to wake up at 6am, I started to wake up later and later, and as a result I ended up having lunch, dinner, and going to bed at least two hours after my usual time.
The last time I went out it was two days before the quarantine started, with some friends. I don’t feel the need to go out yet.
Viola
Viola, 15, attends the International School of Tanganyika in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. She’s been living there for four years with her parents, who are doctors. She spends her quarantine days studying, learning guitar, listening to music and video chatting with friends.
From the reaction of the Tanzanians, it does not seem people are worried. Here people continue to go to the market, to church or mosques for religious celebrations, as if nothing happened. Unlike Europe, here it is very difficult to ask people to stay at home. Tanzania is a poor country and people live from day to day and earn the little money they will need to buy food. So it is very difficult to ask for a total closure. Here in Dar Es Salaam, water and soap dispensers have been put everywhere and in all the shops the temperature is checked before entering.
The school has been closed for three weeks. Yesterday, we were told it will be closed for the rest of the school year. Many of my classmates have returned to their countries and so have the teachers. We now do school online from 8.30am to 2.30pm on Zoom. Some of the teachers who have returned to the US make video calls late in the evening, others have the backdrop of their hometown snowy landscapes, while it is very hot here in Dar!
During the day, apart from web-school and homework, I contact friends, both Italian and from my school here in Tanzania. I can read and listen to music much more than usual. In the afternoon I often take a walk with my dog.
From this experience I have noticed how we kids often don’t enjoy the simple things we have, such as going out with friends. Now that we can’t, we are realising the importance of these little things. Surely, when it’s all over, we’ll be more grateful for what we have.
Alice
Alice, 16, lives on the outskirts of Rome and has access to a big garden. This makes the quarantine days easier for her to stand. She’s very good at drawing, and has plans to move to Portsmouth in the autumn to attend an English school year-long programme.
Staying at home is difficult, more than anything else, because I can’t see my friends in person. Apart from not going to school and participating in extra-curricular activity, the only different thing is not going out with my friends.
The connection is often slow and the video freezes, so classes are much more difficult to follow. The upsides are probably the comfort of being at home and not being seen by teachers.
I worry a lot and also wonder whether this virus will ruin my summer. I’m probably more concerned about the coronavirus than global warming.
Chiara
Chiara connects with us via Zoom and selects her favourite TV series Money Heist as a background. She’s very good student, she’s a class representative and politically active.
Obviously I miss my friends and going out, but I get along well with my family and maybe I’ve always been a bit lazy, so adapting wasn’t difficult. Instead of going out with friends, on Saturday nights I watch movies or series with my family, something nobody had time to do before.
I spend most of my days studying, but I also have virtual meetings with my collective mates and chat with my friends, but physically it is different and I miss that aspect.
At first it took me a while to realise what was really happening, but hearing the number of deaths on the news or listening to the stories of my uncle, who is a doctor in the Bergamo area – where the virus hit hardest – has frightened me. But I’m quite optimistic: if we all respect the rules, and stay at home we will be able to get out of this situation.
We feel the virus is hitting closer to home and therefore the instinctive reaction of fear is greater. It’s more difficult to realise the damage climate breakdown will bring. The complications caused by the virus are perhaps a consequence of the climate crisis, as studies show the areas most affected are also the most polluted. On the other hand, the lockdown is reducing emissions and thus improving the health of our planet.
This experience made us realise our lives had become too hectic and consumerist, which is why we waited too long before completely blocking the economy. The courage to stop it earlier would have prevented many deaths.
Anita
Anita, 15, attends the second year of Pilo Albertelli high school in Rome. She is a brilliant student and spends most of her quarantine days doing web-schooling and homework. She loves writing and reading but also doing sports. She’s a long-jumper.
Sometimes I feel the lockdown is an opportunity to rest from the frenzy and to try things I didn’t have time to do before. Other times, I feel tired of living like this – and the fact that I can’t go out drives me crazy. I miss going to school, I miss athletics and seeing my friends, but I also feel lucky because I’m healthy and in a comfortable home. Having lunch with my whole family is new – that was not a daily habit before.
During the day I read and watch TV series. Sometimes I make video calls with my friends, sometimes I draw. We are lucky at least to be able to continue to study and see our classmates and teachers, but there are internet connection problems and distance learning is more difficult.
I’m worried about the victims and that someone I know might get sick. I’m scared that hospitals are overloaded and there aren’t enough doctors. Despite the lockdown we’re doing well in the family, but I’m amazed at how much I miss school.
I’ve learned that life and our habits can change in a second. I have never thought about this before, but in many other parts of the world this often happens. Then I learned to wash my hands very well!
Chiara B
Chiara B attends the second year at the Italian school in Madrid, where she lives with her family. She’s a Hollywood film fan and she wants to become a director of photography. Spain is among the countries worst-hit by the pandemic. She spends her lockdown days learning to play the guitar, watching movies and studying.
Since I don’t go out of the house any more and I don’t have any more commitments, life is less hectic. This allows me to think more, but sometimes, I get lost in distressing thoughts (for example, about our future). I miss being able to meet friends in person very much.
I have more time now. I can write more, work out every day, read and work on personal projects. Apart from web school and homework, I mostly video-chat to my friends.
At the beginning distance learning was exciting. I paid more attention to classes because it was new. But as the weeks go by, it gets harder to stay focused in front of a screen.
I am more concerned about the climate crisis than the virus, but it took a pandemic for this phenomenon to slow down, at least a little bit. I keep myself informed, but in a very superficial way. The numbers frighten me enough and frighten the whole of Spain.
Julien
Julien, 15, was born in Rome but has a French father. He’s passionate about maths and science. He spends his lockdown days mainly studying. He doesn’t feel the urge to go out. He just went jogging a couple of times to stay fit. He’s a high-jump athlete.
The obligation to stay at home does not cause me any stress at all: I am very homely and do not feel the need to go out. School and homework aside, I spend my days mainly on my mobile phone or computer. I seldom go jogging.
The web school works well, we have regular lessons every day (even too many!). It’s nice that it’s easier to consult books during the tests.
I don’t miss the fact that I can’t physically meet my friends. I’m happy even if we only see each other virtually during video calls.
I’m not very worried about what is happening because of the virus in the world. I’m not too up to date on how the pandemic is developing; I watch the news from time to time. I think when this is over, everything will go back to the way it was before.
Sofia
Sofia, 15, plays bass in a rock band. She’s loves horror movies.
I have more time to think and do what I want to do when I get back from school. On Fridays I play with a band, but now I can’t.
The video lessons aren’t bad, the only thing I don’t like is that nobody shows their face – that would be nice. The way we do web schooling is like listening to a recorded voice and it’s boring.
I miss meeting my friends in person, also because I had just started to go out in the evening with friends and that felt good.
Michela
Michela has been reading a lot and keeping good care of her pet.
Being at home doesn’t bother me too much. The relationship with my parents hasn’t changed much, we live in the same house but we don’t see each other often, each of us has his own space in the house and we only get together to eat. At least once a week, I go out for a walk with my grandmother’s dog, so I’m not completely segregated like other people.
The daily routine hasn’t changed drastically, the main difference is when I play sport: I used to train in the evening for about two hours with my rugby team, now I do it in the morning for one hour at most, doing some exercises suggested by our coach.
School homework is the same as before, and the whole morning is occupied by video lessons. But I finally found some time for myself, for example to make a jewellery box to tidy up all my earrings and necklaces that were previously cluttered in a box.
I am more concerned about the climate crisis because the coronavirus is something to which we will eventually find a solution, even though it will take a long time. Climate breakdown, on the other hand, is a seemingly invisible enemy that we can’t stop, because it’s not as obvious as the coronavirus, because it doesn’t bring “imminent” deaths, but a slow death of the whole planet. It seems that the world is not focused in finding a real solution for that.
